1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the general art of law enforcement, and to the particular field of information used in law enforcement.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traffic stops made by law enforcement officers have always presented numerous problems for the officers. These problems range from actual physical danger to legal problems associated with probable cause.
Therefore, there is a need for a means and a method for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of a law enforcement traffic stop.
As criminals become more dangerous and more skilled, all of the problems associated with traffic stops are exacerbated. In some instances, such as might be the case with terrorists, the stop may be deadly for, not only the officer, but for those in the immediate vicinity of the stop as well. One reason for this is the criminal or terrorist may hide illegal items, including explosives, drugs, firearms, or the like, in various locations in the vehicle. Most law enforcement officers rely on their own knowledge and experience in determining if a search of a stopped vehicle is warranted. Further, once a search is initiated, most officers must rely on their own knowledge and experience in determining where to search and how to gain access to the areas being searched.
This is not efficient because criminals are always seeking new ways to avoid detection, and one such way will be to find new hiding places in a vehicle. This can create great problems for the officer. For example, he may miss a hiding place and thus miss illegal items, or he may not be able to gain access to a particular hiding place. Not only is this inefficient, it can be dangerous.
Therefore, there is a need for a means and a method for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of a law enforcement traffic stop by providing information to an officer regarding potential hiding places on the stopped vehicle and providing information on the most efficient and effective ways and means for gaining access to such hiding places.
One very effective method of improving the efficiency of a search of a stopped vehicle will be to permit a law enforcement officer to be able to use a pool of knowledge. Thus, it would increase the efficiency of traffic stops if a law enforcement officer could contact others regarding the stopped vehicle and tap into their knowledge.
Therefore, there is a need for a means and a method for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of a law enforcement traffic stop by providing a means for a law enforcement officer to communicate with others concerning the stopped vehicle.
The most effective knowledge is generally the most up-to-date knowledge. Therefore, in the traffic stop situation of interest to this disclosure, it will be most helpful if data associated with each land vehicle is continually updated. This will permit the data base to take advantage of all of the newest information for each traffic stop whereby any new tricks tried by criminals will quickly be made known to all law enforcement officers.
Therefore, there is a need for a means and a method for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of a law enforcement traffic stop by providing a data base that is updated on a continuous or periodic basis.
Any data and information known to law enforcement should not be available to others. Therefore, any data associated with hiding places on land vehicles should be available only to authorized personnel.
Therefore, there is a need for a means and a method for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of a law enforcement traffic stop which is available only to authorized personnel.